ART DIRECTION / FINAL COMPILATION & REFLECTION

25/04/2024 - 28/07/2024 (Week 1 - Week 14) 

Agnes Fadhyllah  / 0360503

Art Direction / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

ART DIRECTION / FINAL COMPILATION & REFLECTION

Instructions

Module Information Booklet

Task

Week 1 

• For the first week we were having briefing about what art direction is, and after the briefing we played a game called Among us, Ms.Anis told us that is the only thing we have to do on the first week so we did just that.

Week 2

• We were assigned to our each own group by Ms.Anis, which afterwards she task us to observe the game, find the pros and cons of the game, and make a presentation of it.

Observation

Among Us is a game where you either play as a good guy (Crewmate) or a sneaky bad guy (Impostor). Crewmates have to finish tasks on a spaceship, while Impostors secretly sabotage things and try to knock out Crewmates without getting caught.The gameplay is pretty straightforward and easy to play even without alot of explanation.

Findings

• Minimalistic design that helps with understanding the mechanics of the game
• Various of maps with different themes
• Various modes in the game
• Detailed character profiles such as levels (beginner, intermediate, and master)
• Character customization (such as cosmetics and colors)

Pros

• Customisable character outfits / name plates, enable the users to have unique silhouette, a number of them are free.
• Sudden kill animations are funny and quirky
• Simple map designs which allows the users to navigate where the tasks are.
• Visually appealing in map designs and colours, some area gives spooky
• Use the lighting to give the direction to the users
• Straightforward UI on Task , enable the users to identify how to complete the task without any explanation
• Task designs are different based on the theme of the map

Cons

• Custom setting menu is hard to identified and seems messy
• Indicator of the task is light ( yellowish glow),
• Features are limited maps which may become repetitive
• Custom setting menu is shown at the waiting which is less enjoyable (players will know how many imposter there is)
• Affordance issues with tasks (No tutorials for 1st comers)
• Inconsistent of fonts
• Needs extra platforms for communication (no in build mic)
• “Report” icon is unnoticeable and small
• UI design changes to small size when there is over 10 players. (During voting)

Week 3

• In this week, we were tasked to create our own version of Among us, so our group had a discussion on what we wanted to create and we came up with Alpaca Vs Farmer concept where its all family friendly.

Main Character : Alpaca & Farmer

Genre : Child Friendly

Style : Cartoon/Cute (Cult of the lamb/Kirby) Bring Colors/Soft

Theme : Farm

Game inspiration : Mario/Cult of the lamb/Cookie run/Animal Crossing/Pokemon/Sanrio

Story

A farmer is planning to do his task which are shaving the alpaca's wool but the alpacas has always wanted to escape the farmer farm to live a free life in the wild with their beautiful wools

Style

• Stylized Characters
• Bright Colors
• Funny
• Light hearted
• Children theme
• Multi Colors/Soft Colors

Gameplay Type

• Tag you're it
• Chase

Must Have

• Alpaca
• "Ghost" Alpaca (Wool)
• Farmer
• Voting Animation
• "Killing" Animation
• Tasks
• Locations (Map)
• UI Buttons (Main Menu, Game, Shop, Setting)
• Fonts
• Logo
• You are an alpaca/farmer animation.
• Winning Screen/Losing Screen
• Venting (for Farmers)
• Voting table

Good to have

• Narrations / Story
• Variations of Maps
• Variation of "Killing" Animations
• Skins (Cosmetics)
• Shops/Collectibles

Nice to have

• Sound Effects
• Music

Week 4

In this week we started making sketches on what we are planning to do, the slides below are our progressions and the things we have done for our project. 

The stuff that i work on : 

• Chicken Coop
• Character Designs (Crewmate, Impostor, Accessories, Dead Body, Ghost, Chicken)
• Task Design (Farm, Door, Coop, Alpaca)
• Design for Host, Private, Public

Final Presentation & Compilation

Links : 

Final ppt

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGLtEnk_Gw/xfNBwuFYRRsZ36j1EFVj7w/edit?utm_content=DAGLtEnk_Gw&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Final submission drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VSylFctWhdQRzpB4XxuFs9Q_DvKDcY-B?usp=sharing

Feedback

Week 4 

• Ms.Anis told us that our idea is interesting and we can proceed with it.

Week 5 

• Change the thickness of lines in your drawings. Thicker lines look more cartoonish, while thinner lines look more detailed.

Week 6

• Think about their look, personality, and how they fit into the game. Try different versions of your characters.

Week 7

• Plan out the layout of the farm. Decide where buildings, fields, and other elements go. Make sure it fits the game's style.

Week 9 

• Dont worry much about difference in art style, you can blend it all out at the end after everything is done and compiled

Week 10

• Make sure to play with lighting since we have outdoor and indoors location.

Week 11

• Make sure colors fit with theme, mood, and overall style.

Week 13

• Change lighting, it'll affect the overall mood and vibe

Reflection

In my opinion this module is really fun and especially its a group project which makes alot of things easier especially everyone is really cooperating really nicely, everyone is very hardworking and is very communicative, we are all expressing our ideas and we dont take criticism harshly and easily get our ideas along well. 

in this module, it made me pay attention on details for games, on how to color stuff, the lines, the designs, and honestly its such a fun thing to do. even after the module finished i find myself unconsciously paying extra attention on every games i play even though its not necessary HAHAH but i like doing it with the thought "im gonna practice drawing with this style" ! 

The entire time when i was doing this project i was in my friend house which also is my senior, so its nice to have feedback straight from a senior who did this project too before :P